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Look at the human body. You don’t need anyone to tell you that everything
in your body is where they are supposed to be. Your head is on your head.
Your eyes are in your eyes. Your ears are where ears should be. Your legs are
what help you to stand, walk and run. You can also bend with the help of
your knees.
Imagine how it would feel like when your eyes are where the nose is. You
won’t feel comfortable seeing your legs on your head or your hands on your
back. That would make life unbearable.
All the parts of the body are in the right places. None of them is in the wrong
place. The arrangement of the parts of the body gives the entire body its
unique and attractive shape. The same is true with speech in English. Every
word in the sentence or statement you make has a name. They have a position
they belong to in the English language.
The English language has its own structure. All the parts in that structure are
special and must not be changed. They must be carefully placed where they
belong or else nothing will make sense.
Understanding where each part of the structure belongs will help you make
good sentences.
These nine items make up most of the things you say in English. When you
talk to friends, you must pick from these parts of speech. When you tell
stories, you must choose your words from these items. When you meet your
boss in the office or your teacher in school, your words must be carefully
made up of these parts of speech. When you describe an incident or report an
issue, your words must contain some or all of these components of speech.
As long as you use the English language, you need the knowledge of parts of
speech. That is why you should understand each component of speech. It will
help you speak and write well in the English language.
Now look at some examples and how the sentences are broken down into
various parts.
1. He is my best friend.
2. The new girl sat on a wide bench.
3. The bird flew in the sky.
4. Our team won the game. Hurrah!
5. Mother and I went to the market.
HE IS MY BEST FRIEND.
He --- pronoun
Is --- verb
My --- pronoun
Best --- adjective
Friend --- noun
Do you have a name? Yes, you do. Do you live in a city or a country? Of
course, every one of us does. Nouns are names of persons, animals, places,
objects, events, days of the week, days of the month, feelings and anything
that has a name.
Everything we see has a name, and names are nouns. No matter what
something is, if it has name, that name is a noun. Let’s break down the
definition of nouns.
PERSONS
Examples of names of persons are: John, Raju, Singh, Khan, Abraham, Mary,
Pia, Kareena
ANIMALS
Lion, elephant, tiger, fox, cheetah, kangaroo, goat, cat, cow, chicken, rat,
rabbit, squirrel
PLACES
India, Pakistan, America, Shimla, New York, China, Japan, Goa, museum,
park, market
OBJECTS
Table, chair, pen, pencil, bag, paper, tin, gun, mat, wrapper, sari, basket,
bucket, kettle
EVENTS
Diwali, Christmas, Pongal, Holi, Onam, Easter, Ramadan, Eid al Fitr,
Children’s Day, Workers Day
FEELINGS
Anger, fear, sadness, excitement, love, satisfaction, annoyance, disgust,
worry, shame, loneliness
Types of Nouns
Adam
Suraj
Pia
Kareen
Kapoor
Singh
Prem
Sanu
Manu
Samson
Samuel
Abraham
India
America
England
South Africa
Pakistan
Goa
New Delhi
Argentina
Titanic
Coca-Cola
Pepsi-Cola
Tokyo
January
Monday
September
Dr. Morgan
Russian
The President
Prime Minister
Google
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Telegram
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Red Sea
Sydney
Common Nouns
Common nouns act as the opposite of proper nouns. Common nouns are
names you don’t bear or share alone. Other persons or things can also be
addressed with that name. Example is “boy.” Even though someone is a boy,
the word “boy” can be used for other boys also. The same goes for the word
“girl.” Although a female child is called a “girl”, the name is not for her
alone; other girls can use the name anytime and any day. The word country is
for every country. That means it is common for all countries of the world to
call their place a country, isn’t it? Yes, it is. That’s why we call it common
nouns because it is common.
boy
girl
man
woman
city
country
state
village
car
laptop
biscuit
mouse
cat
lion
mountain
building
house
tree
planet
leg
ocean
school
table
knife
bread
chair
mango
lorry
truck
river
sea
flower
fruit
desk
glass
hospital
course
door
farmer
chicken
child
book
adult
company
council
father
mother
brother
sister
uncle
aunt
niece
nephew
friend
Concrete Nouns
Concrete Nouns are objects or things we can see and touch with our hands.
Concrete nouns are often visible and appeal to our five senses.
whale
table
teacher
television
tiger
phone
plane
heart
sand
nose
head
car
bed
pen
pencil
wallet
smoke
book
egg
perfume
belt
newspaper
apple
smoke
ball
radio
shoes
fish
hand
scissors
tree
spoon
fruit
fork
foot
flag
ear
eye
Abstract Nouns
Abstract nouns are things that are real but you cannot touch, smell, taste, see
and hear them. That means they could be qualities, ideas, emotions or events.
Abstract nouns are the opposites of concrete nouns.
fear
excitement
freedom
pain
beauty
hate
brilliance
indifference
courage
sadness
patience
greed
trust
warmth
peace
satisfaction
pleasure
chaos
happiness
career
childhood
holiday
Christmas
marriage
death
life
past
opportunity
wisdom
despair
Compound Nouns
Some nouns are made up of two or more words. When this is the case, we
refer to them as compound nouns. Each of the word in a compound noun has
its own separate meaning but when it joins other words, the meaning changes
slightly.
cowboy
baseball
mealtime
armpit
oatmeal
barnyard
notebook
marketplace
endless
eggplant
railway
catfish
bulldog
heartbeat
eardrum
chairman
teaspoon
tapeworm
seashell
workshop
copycat
chopstick
footprint
worldwide
Countable Nouns
Some objects can be counted. In other words, you can find out how many
there are in a group. Whether you find them in a group or in a single form,
you can count them and record the number. An example is a pen. You can
have one pen, two pens, three pens, four pens, five pens etc. Any object you
can count this way is a countable noun.
table
chair
pencil
door
window
bag
bottle
book
dog
man
girl
woman
boy
cow
bed
bicycle
soap
watch
knife
hat
car
fan
television
radio
key
banana
basket
bucket
house
boat
Uncountable Nouns
These are things that you cannot count no matter how hard you try.
Uncountable nouns do not go with numbers. This is because they are abstract,
that is, you cannot see them even though you know they exist. Other times,
you see them but they are too small for you to count.
An example is sugar. You cannot say “There are thirty sugars in the tin.”
Also, you cannot say “I poured four waters into the bucket.” It’s not possible
to count sugar and water. This difficulty in counting makes them uncountable
nouns.
rice
sand
flour
knowledge
safety
air
wind
beauty
love
beans
advice
cotton
gasoline
ice
snow
salt
butter
milk
Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are names given to a group of people, places, things,
animals or ideas. Examples of collective nouns are pack, choir, flock, herd,
team, staff, and crowd.
For People
a troupe of dancers
a team of players
a panel of experts
a pack of thieves
a gang of thieves
a class of students
a band of musicians
a board of directors
For Animals
a hive of bees
an army of ants
a litter of puppies
a murder of crows
a pack of hounds
a flock of sheep
a flock of birds
a pride of lions
a school of fish
a pack of wolves
a team of horses
a swarm of locusts
For Things
a pair of shoes
a bunch of flowers
a fleet of ships
a forest of trees
a galaxy of stars
a pack of cards
a bunch of keys
a bouquet of flowers
a pack of lies
a wad of notes
a range of mountains
a clump of bushes
a cloud of dust
a collection of coins
a battery of guns
a bowl of rice
a comb of bananas
a bundle of sticks
a bevy of ladies
Material Nouns
These are things from which other things are made. Examples are gold,
wood, iron etc.
air
iron
gold
copper
salt
rain
coal
sand
meat
oil
rubber
perfume
honey
leather
cloth
brick
cement
chalk
butter
Possessive Nouns
Possessive nouns show the owner of something. To form a good possessive
noun, add apostrophe (‘) to the noun before the object that is owned.
For example:
Shiva = Shiva’s bag
Kareena = Kareena shoes
John = John’s house
Mabel = Mabel’s husband
Peter = Peter’s boat
egg’s color
India’s Prime Minister
lion’s den
frog’s croaking
owl’s eyes
student’s grades
teacher’s bag
mother’s car
father’s money
lawyer’s fee
doctor’s prescription
today’s newspaper
yesterday’s troubles
But there are words that end with the letter “s”. You make them possessive
nouns by moving the apostrophe (‘) and placing it after the letter “s.”
donors’ blood
teachers’ holiday
Fidelis’ mother
cars’ horn
members’ votes
stars’ sparks
babies’ shoes
markets’ sales
Practice Questions Two
If you look at people and things around you, you will notice differences
based on their nature and the way they look or think. We refer to these
differences as gender.
Masculine Gender refers to being male, thinking or acting male in every way.
Examples are man, boy, Lord, and King.
Feminine Gender refers to the state of being female, thinking and acting like
one in many ways. Examples include queen, mother, and bride.
Common Gender can be either male or female. For example, a child can
either be male or female. So are teacher, lawyer and parent.
Neuter Gender is neither male nor female in any way. Examples include pen,
table, wall, cup, chair and book.
Masculine and Feminine Gender
These two genders are the most popular. We are going to consider several
examples below.
Masculine Feminine
man woman
boy girl
king queen
cock hen
dog bitch
drone bee
father mother
gander goose
brother sister
son daughter
husband wife
bridegroom bride
dad mom/mum
grandfather grandmother
landlord landlady
policeman policewoman
salesman saleswoman
god goddess
monk nun
uncle aunt
wizard witch
czar czarina
signor signora
bullock heifer
nephew niece
hero heroine
sultan sultana
ram ewe
sir madam
bachelor spinster
hart roe
fox vixen
buck doe
stag hind
peacock peahen
tiger tigress
jack jenny
stallion mare
brother-in-law sister-in-law
son-in-law daughter-in-law
widower widow
Some words will need “-ess” to form the feminine gender. Examples are
given below:
Masculine Feminine
count countess
heir heiress
host hostess
Jew Jewess
lion lioness
priest priestess
giant giantess
duke duchess
waiter waitress
prince princess
steward stewardess
baron baroness
mayor mayoress
patron patroness
master mistress
emperor empress
sorcerer sorceress
Practice Questions Three
Change each bolded word to masculine or feminine.
1. The FATHER will come and his SON home.
2. The GENTLEMAN over there is the BRIDEGROOM.
3. Her SON is more troublesome than her HUSBAND.
4. As an ACTOR, he took the role of the PRINCE.
5. The MAN is a WIDOWER.
6. His MISTRESS is still a SPINSTER.
7. The countess has a younger SISTER.
8. The FOX was killed by a LIONESS.
9. The MILKMAN ran when a DOG barked.
10. The SULTAN became a MONK.
CHAPTER FOUR: NAMING WORDS (3)
NOUNS: Singular and Plural
A noun can represent one person or one thing. When it is one person, it is
referred to as singular. Two or more persons or things are called plural.
Examples
boy (one boy, that means it is singular)
boys (more than one boy, that means it is plural)
girl (singular)
girls (plural)
cow (singular)
cows (plural)
Some plurals are easy to form (regular noun plurals) while you need to learn
and master others (irregular noun plurals). Let’s start with the irregular ones.
Singular Plural
man men
woman women
child children
foot feet
tooth teeth
mouse mice
louse lice
datum data
criterion criteria
stadium stadia
ox oxen
goose geese
phenomenon phenomena
thesis theses
oasis oases
syllabus syllabi
fungus fungi
focus foci
cactus cacti
knife knives
wife wives
half halves
life lives
elf elves
loaf loaves
diagnosis diagnoses
Some noun plurals are formed by adding “-s, -es, -ves or -ies” to the root
word. Here are examples below:
Singular Plural
boat boats
house houses
cat cats
river rivers
box boxes
pitch pitches
wish wishes
bus buses
boy boys
potato potatoes
halo halos
volcano volcanoes/volcanos
proof proofs
cliff cliffs
hoof hoofs
chief chiefs
wife wives
life lives
thief thieves
self selves
knife knives
loaf loaves
lady ladies
baby babies
army armies
city cities
Some noun plurals do not change. They are the same as their singular form.
Singular Plural
fish fish
aircraft aircraft
deer deer
sheep sheep
species species
salmon salmon
swine swine
shrimp shrimp
trout trout
Plurals for Compound Nouns
Most compound nouns get their plurals by adding “-s” to the root word.
Singular Plural
man-of-war men-of-war
coat-of-mail coats-of-mail
father-in-law fathers-in-law
mother-in-law mothers-in-law
brother-in-law brothers-in- law
sister-in-law sisters-in-law
maid-servant maid-servants
step-son step-sons
Practice Questions Three
Change the following to plurals:
1. lady
2. baby
3. focus
4. criterion
5. stadium
6. tax
7. mountain
8. day
9. salmon
10.passer-by
Everyone and everything has a name and that name is a noun. When you use
someone else’s name, you identify that person from among other persons
around.
Sometimes, you do not want to mention the person’s name many times in
your speech. What do you do to avoid that? You use a pronoun to replace the
person’s name. So after using the person’s name once or twice, you replace it
with the right pronoun. A male pronoun is used for a male noun; a female
pronoun for a female noun.
Examples
James changes to “he”;
Sarah changes to “she”;
a dog changes to “it.”
I
You
He
She
It
They
We
Us
Them
Her
Him
His
Ours
Theirs
Types of Pronouns
We have eight (8) types of pronouns:
1. Personal Pronouns
2. Relative Pronouns
3. Demonstrative Pronouns
4. Reciprocal Pronouns
5. Indefinite Pronouns
6. Interrogative Pronouns
7. Reflexive Pronouns
8. Emphatic Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
For the effective use of personal pronouns, they are divided into three
categories called PERSONS: the person speaking, the person spoken to, and
the person spoken about. If you understand this and can recall the pronouns
under each category, your use of English will improve greatly.
For instance:
Aamir waved at me.
In the above sentence, WAVE is the action, and the receiver or object is ME.
Therefore, the objective pronoun in the above sentence is ME. Me is an
objective pronoun.
us
you
us
him
her
it
them
In the sentence above Aamir is a NOUN, and only PRONOUNS can replace
a noun. Since Aamir is believed to be male, the pronoun HE is most
appropriate to replace.
I
She
He
We
They
It
You
Note: Subjective pronouns often come at the beginning of sentences. Since
they represent the doer of an action, they often start sentences.
Objective pronouns most times come at the end of a sentence, since they act
as receivers of the action in a sentence.
Relative Pronouns
Most books define relative pronouns in ways difficult to understand. To make
it easy to grasp, here is a simple and practical definition of relative pronouns:
Relative pronouns are pronouns that introduce words that give more
information about the person or thing spoken about in the sentence. In other
words, they provide extra details about the situation, nature and condition
surrounding the person or thing being discussed in a sentence.
Examples
1. The judge whose wife was murdered retired last week.
2. The girl whose dress was torn got a new one from the school
management.
3. The people whose houses were burnt received financial
assistance from the Prime Minister.
4. I saw a boy whose nose was bleeding.
5. The woman whose husband got a promotion bought a new car.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that points at the persons or things
spoken about. They show the reader or listener the exact position of the
objects the sentence is describing. Demonstrative pronouns show whether
someone or something is near or far.
Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns are special pronouns that show that one person or one
thing acts on the other. In other words, they show how the action of one
affects the other. There are only two reciprocal pronouns: each other and one
another.
Each other: It is used when two persons or two things are involved.
Examples
1. Peter and Mary love each other.
2. The two brothers fought each other for ten years.
3. The two soldiers shot each other and were rushed to the hospital.
One another: It is used when more than two things are involved.
Examples
1. We all should learn to love one another.
2. The neighbors still found it difficult to live in peace with one
another.
3. The criminals were all blaming one another.
4. The pirates were fighting one another.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are the type of pronouns that refer to anyone or anything.
They do not point at specific persons or things, and what they refer to can be
anyone or anything.
Some of the common indefinite pronouns are” any, all, anyone, anything,
each, everybody, everyone, everything, many, few, none, one, several, some,
someone, somebody, nobody, no one.
Examples in sentences
1. Everyone hates Sunny Diallo.
2. Everything goes well for me.
3. Is anybody home?
4. Many people voted in the last elections.
5. Some teenagers never learn any lesson.
6. Nobody came out for the protest.
7. None of us knew he would leave the party early.
8. Each man and each woman needs to speak their mind.
9. Several of the houses burned down during the fire outbreak.
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are pronouns that introduce questions. They make it
easier to form questions. Once you understand how to use them, asking
questions of any form becomes easy.
We have five interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which, and whose.
However, each of these can take additional words and grow longer.
Examples in sentences
1. What would you like to drink?
2. What is your name?
3. What happened here last night?
4. What did you do to her?
5. Who are you?
6. Who did he give the credit card?
7. Who sent this parcel to me?
8. Who is the best musician alive?
9. Which of the bags is yours?
10. Which of the buildings was robbed last night?
11. Which of the players scored the qualifying goal?
12. Whose money is missing?
13. Whose bag is this?
Whose car key is on the chair?
Reflexive Pronouns
Some pronouns point back at the person, object or thing speaking in a
sentence.
You use reflexive pronouns when the subject and object of the sentence is the
same person. In other words, use reflexive pronouns when the action in the
sentence affects the same person.
Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are words that show how intense someone or something
is. In other words, they try to make someone or something to have a lasting
effect on the mind. Another name for intensive pronoun is emphatic pronoun.
It tries to place emphasis on the nouns or pronouns in sentences.
Intensive pronouns have the same word list as reflexive pronouns. The only
difference is the where they appear in sentences. Some examples will help
you understand the difference.
yourself
myself
himself
herself
themselves
itself
ourselves
yourselves
These are intensive pronouns but they are also reflexive pronouns. The only
difference is how they are used in sentences.
Differences between Intensive and Reflexive
Pronouns
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